Small Eternities: Intermezzo
by Cyanne
Summary: Keith has been gone for a year, and Allura is melancholy. Lance can't stand it. If she could only see...


DISCLAIMER: VOLTRON AND ITS CHARACTERS ARE THE PROPERTY OF WORLD EVENTS PRODUCTIONS, LTC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. I AM NOT RECEIVING ANY PROFIT (THOUGH IT WOULD BE NICE…) FOR THIS STORY. THIS WORK OF (FAN) FICTION IS INTENDED SOLELY FOR FANS OF THE SHOW. ENJOY.

Author's Note: I've been asked to explain about the Lance/Allura affair I hinted at in "Small Eternities." Here's my answer.

For those who were curious…

SMALL ETERNITIES: INTERMEZZO

_Allura and Lance_

by Cyanne (Saturn Girl)

Princess Allura stared out at the bright green meadow, the warm sun turning her fair skin golden.Only the lightest wisps escaped from her tightly knotted hair, dancing over her furrowed forehead. 

Lance shot a sideways glance at her exquisite profile, feeling his own brow furrow sympathetically.The lost expression she had was one that Lance hadn't seen in a long time; it worried him.She'd been distracted during Lion practice today as well, but she had refused to say why. Sven had considerately left her to her thoughts, but Lance didn't like to see her so bothered.Something tugged at his memory when he tried to contemplate what it could be that upset Allura so much, but stubbornly his brain refused to divulge its secrets. It frustrated him, the fact that his gift of intuition always failed when it came to the Princess.Try has he might, he could not see into her heart.

Perhaps the walls were too high. 

Allura and Lance's afternoon off had coincided this week, so they had decided to spend it together, going for a long walk in the sweet spring air.Allura had been silent so far, and Lance for once had not been able to think of a single thing to say.He looked at her again and resisted an impulse to take her hand.

"Lance," said the Princess.

"Yes?"

"Do you remember what day it is?"

Lance raised a questioning eyebrow."Someone's birthday? Not yours, I hope."

A sad smile, but a smile nonetheless."No. Not a birthday. An anniversary."

Lance racked his brain. Was this the day her father died? Of an important battle with Doom? Her parents' wedding anniversary?

"It's the anniversary of a separation," she supplied quietly.

_An anniversary of--oh. _Lance nodded, understanding and feeling curiously depressed."Keith left one year ago today."

Allura nodded, still staring at the meadow below them."It's strange," she mused."I woke up this morning, and it hit me.A year.It seems like so long ago--yet it's very little time at all."She shook her head as if to clear her muddled thoughts."Does that make any sense?"

"Some," Lance replied.

Allura was clearly trying to gather her thoughts."When I think of it, it's like I'm seeing a play in my head, a play I know well.I know every line, every pause, every look...but it's only a play, make believe, you know?It's not really happening.It's only a picture, a vignette. Like it didn't really happen."Allura shook her head again."But it did, of course."

Lance dropped his eyes."Do you still think about him?"

"Sometimes.I wonder what he would think of things I see, what he would say. I wonder what he's doing, if he's…" she broke off, looking at her feet. "I think about him when I'm feeling lost, or scared.The way I remember my father."Pause."As a ghost."

Lance looked up.Allura's eyes were shining with tears as she gently lowered her body into a sitting position.He watched one silver tear as it slid down her cheek, leaving a sparkling trail."That's the scariest part, Lance," she whispered."He's a ghost to me."

Lance dropped to the soft ground beside her, not sure what to say.

Allura did not seem to mind his silence."Lance, do you ever think about Cyann in this way?"

Cyann.The name opened a floodgate of memories, most of which Lance had not thought about in more than four years."Maybe every once in a while, if I see something that reminds me of her. But honestly, I don't think about her that much." _Not these days, anyway._

"Does thinking about her make you feel...empty?" Allura asked, lowering her own gaze."Alone?"

"You're not alone, Allura," Lance said, moving closer.

"This is a different kind of alone.It's like a hollowness."

Lance wanted to look away, but he could not. "You really love him that much?"

The Princess sighed."I don't know, Lance.Maybe just today.On an anniversary, maybe.That's the only time it's okay.Tomorrow it'll be gone, he'll still be gone. It doesn't matter."Another tear slid down her shining cheek.

Lance gently touched that cheek, turning her face towards his."You're not alone," he repeated. 

Allura looked at him trustingly, blinking her large blue eyes at his warm brown gaze."Thank you," she said."I don't know what I'd do without you, Lance."

Lance could only look at her, fighting down an urge to take a liberty he did not have._How could Keith look into these eyes and walk away?_

Allura suddenly noticed he was staring at her. "Lance, what is it—" she whispered, so close it made him dizzy. And then his lips silenced her.

The kiss was very brief, and they pulled apart, staring at each other, in surprise and wonder.Then they kissed again, longer this time, pulling each other closer, and when the embrace finally ended Lance stared into the beautiful blue eyes that Keith must surely have gazed into--the eyes that must have rendered him just as helpless.Something was beginning, that he was sure of, but he wondered if this beginning was--as beginnings usually were--also accompanied by an ending._Or maybe it's something between us that's ending, he thought. _

As Allura looked up at him, Lance knew that they would have to let the future decide.

FIN


End file.
